The Familiarity of Far Cry 6

Jackson Murphy ’25 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

If you purchase Farcry 6 and have email notifications from Ubisoft, you’ll receive emails from El Presidente, the game’s villain. These emails aren’t sent after you capture a region, but after you haven’t played the game for a few days. Sadly, anyone who purchases Far Cry 6 and is looking for a new, revitalized entry in the Far Cry series will be disappointed by a game they’ve already played, and will receive too many emails from El Presidente. 

Recommending Far Cry 6 is difficult. Not because the game is bad, but because it’s just another Far Cry. How much someone enjoys it depends on how much they like the open-world, stealth, and gunplay focused formula the franchise is known for. 

From a gameplay standpoint, Far Cry 6’s stealth and gunplay is excellent, thanks to some light revitalization through new unique weapons, abilities, and expanded customization. The sandbox, while mostly unchanged, still allows for creative, explosion-filled encounters. For most of the people looking to spend their time on just the main story, and limited side activities, you will get an enjoyable experience throughout. However, for people who want to spend more time exploring the world, by the time you decide to jump back into the main story, the game has laid all its cards on the table, and the deck is almost the exact same as previous installments. Soon, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify playing through to the end of the story, as the fun factor doesn’t outweigh any full playthrough. 

Far Cry 6 tries to present its additions to the game as enough to revitalize the formula, but many of them, like the ammo system, either don’t work the way they’re supposed to, or are largely unimportant. While there are unique weapons to use, others do the exact same thing in a less stylish, more effective fashion. While there are many different automatic rifles, they’re all the same, and their unique versions are modded, with attachments you can put on yourself. While there are six different ammo types, armor piercing eliminates enemies quicker and more reliably than other rounds, and any explosive weapon is just as effective as explosive ammo. 

The ammo system presents soft target rounds as better than armor piercing for unarmored enemies. However, armor piercing rounds, especially when aiming for the head, can kill unarmed enemies almost as quickly as their soft target counterparts. Furthermore, incendiary and poison rounds slowly kill enemies over time. But, as conserving ammo is hardly something to worry about, it’s more enjoyable to just shoot a few extra rounds into enemies to kill them faster, versus firing less but waiting longer. 

Compared to gameplay, the story of Far Cry 6 makes some great changes, specifically in its handling of the main character. In previous games, the protagonist would either not talk, or talk but have no deep personality or background. In Far Cry 6 however, the main character, Dani Rojas, is fully voice-acted, has a backstory, and interacts with other characters. Surprisingly for a Far Cry game, he’s seen in cutscenes. While side and main characters are stronger than others, how often Dani interacts with them makes strong connections between the player and the in-game story. 

While the story’s strengths lie within its main character, its main weakness is the villain, Antón Castillo (Giancarlo Esposito). While Esposito’s fantastic performance makes Antón a real threat, his character lacks the background and unique personality that made Vaas from Far Cry 3, for example, so memorable. Furthermore, “El Presidente” of Yara (The fictional location of Far Cry 6), barely acknowledges the player’s existence until more than halfway through the story, instead focusing on his son, Anton. The father-son duo grabs your attention and is the strength of Antón’s character. But, he lacks attention towards the main character. 

Now, of course, the question arises: should you play Far Cry 6? To answer that another has to be asked: Do you like the Far Cry formula? If so, and you’re craving some more of that explosive-filled Far Cry fun, then Far Cry 6 is the fix you’ll need. Nevertheless, skipping this Far Cry entry wouldn’t end in much missed. 

In 2021, Far Cry 6 feels like a relic of older times. Compared to games released today, its graphics are outdated. With a new generation of powerful consoles, Far Cry 6 feels like Ubisoft’s last cash-in on the Far Cry name, before they decide if emailing players is enough to keep people interested in the series, or if real innovation is needed. 7.5/10.